New Cryptids: Montreal Sasquatch and Manchester Millrats

I got an email from Ian McCarthy the other day. He wrote:

Hello Loren,

I am an avid reader of Cryptomundo.com and listened to you at a Maine Crypo expo at Bates College 2 years ago.

I am also the General Manager of the Manchester Millrats, a minor league basketball team in Manchester, New Hampshire. I thought you and others on Cryptomundo.com might get a kick out of a new team in our league – the Montreal Sasquatch. They have a great logo. ~ Ian McCarthy.

Yes, they do. Here it is. I find it an intriguing mix of the imagined “whiteness” of a Yeti and the Bigfoot-nature of a Canadian Sasquatch. I wonder if there are any mascot figurines yet?

Meanwhile, I went back to GM McCarthy to ask him about the Millrats, reminding him that MonsterQuest had an episode this year on “SuperRats.” I wondered if his team might actually be cryptid-based too, without him even realizing it.

He wrote back:

Funny you mention those Millrats…here is our description for what they represent:

“Anyone growing up in Manchester, New Hampshire knows about the Millrats. The nefarious inhabitants of the Queen City’s riverside old mill buildings.

Today the old mill buildings are being transformed into beautifully renovated office space, retail stores, and pubs or restaurants. This transformation has paralleled Manchester’s ascension as a city. In 2005, the city was named the 7th ‘Best Small City for Doing Business’ by Inc. Magazine.

Known for their extraordinary size and cunning, the Millrats still occupy the unrefurbished buildings, and the wilderness areas along the river. Their speed and sneaky methods parallel a fast paced, aggressive style of basketball that we employ.

But the word has a second meaning; a Millrat was someone who worked extremely hard and long shifts in the mills. A tireless worker who put the needs of others above himself and sacrificed to provide for his family. In that sense our players are Millrats, or otherwise known as ‘Gym Rats’ – we recruit players who are willing to outwork the competition. By working hard on their games, their skills, and their conditioning – they are putting themselves in the best position to be successful.”

Feel free to include Millrats as cryptid#2 featured as a logo in the new Premier Basketball League! That would be cool.

The person who gave us the idea for the name was Mark Ferdinando, of Ferdinando Insurance, who is a local HS basketball coach and grew up in Manchester. He told us that every kid raised there knows about the unusually large and vicious ‘Rats that inhabited the then abandoned Mill buildings! So that was the start of our idea to us the name “Millrats.”

Regards,
Ian

Here’s the Millrats’ logo.

And Milly the official mascot:

However, for those that feel the Millrats have only an ugly rodent as the face of their team, I present historical exhibit number two, below. There have obviously been other marketing ideas for those cold New Hampshire evenings when you might wish to go to a hot basketball game in Manchester.

Ah, just discovered photographs from 2008:

…from the tryouts…

…and apparently the new Millrats dancers…

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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